Sages and Scholars

Chazal (Chachameinu Zichronam Liv'racha)

In traditional discussion of Jewish Law, you will
often see people speak of what Chazal says about a matter. Chazal is not a
single person; the term refers collectively to the consensus of authoritative
opinion, in much the same way that we might speak of what Congress says or what
the Supreme Court says. Chazal is an acronym of the Hebrew phrase Chachameinu
Zichronam Liv'racha, which means "our sages of blessed memory" or "our sages,
may their memory be a blessing." In its strictest sense, Chazal refers to the
final opinion expressed in the Talmud, but the
term is sometimes used more loosely to refer to the generally accepted opinion
of any of the wise people who have contributed to Jewish law. Throughout this
site, I usually use the phrase "the rabbis" where
others might use the term Chazal.

Hillel and Shammai

These two great scholars born a generation or two before the beginning of the
Common Era are usually discussed together and contrasted with each other,
because they were contemporaries and the leaders of two opposing schools of
thought (known as "houses"). The Talmud records
over 300 differences of opinion between Beit Hillel (the House of Hillel) and
Beit Shammai (the House of Shammai). In almost every one of these disputes,
Hillel's view prevailed.

Rabbi Hillel was born to a wealthy family in Babylonia, but came to Jerusalem
without the financial support of his family and supported himself as a
woodcutter. It is said that he lived in such great poverty that he was
sometimes unable to pay the admission fee to study
Torah, and because of him that fee was abolished.
He was known for his kindness, his gentleness, and his concern for humanity.
One of his most famous sayings, recorded in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers,
a tractate of the Mishnah), is "If I am not for
myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I?
And if not now, when?" The Hillel organization, a network of Jewish college
student organizations, is named for him.

Rabbi Shammai was an engineer, known for the strictness of his views. The
Talmud tells that a gentile came to Shammai
saying that he would convert to Judaism if Shammai could teach him the whole
Torah in the time that he could stand on one foot.
Shammai drove him away with a builder's measuring stick! Hillel, on the other
hand, converted the gentile by telling him, "That which is hateful to you, do
not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Go
and study it."

Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai

Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai was the youngest and most distinguished disciple of
Rabbi Hillel (see above). He has been called the "father
of wisdom and the father of generations (of scholars)" because he ensured the
continuation of Jewish scholarship after Jerusalem fell to Rome in 70 C.E.

According to tradition, ben Zakkai was a pacifist in Jerusalem in 68 C.E. when
the city was under siege by General Vespasian. Jerusalem was controlled by the
Zealots, people who would rather die than surrender to Rome (these are the same
people who controlled Masada). Ben Zakkai urged surrender, but the Zealots
would not hear of it, so ben Zakkai faked his own death and had his disciples
smuggle him out of Jerusalem in a coffin. They carried the coffin to
Vespasian's tent, where ben Zakkai emerged from the coffin. He told Vespasian
that he had had a vision (some would say, a shrewd political insight) that
Vespasian would soon be emperor, and he asked Vespasian to set aside a place in
Yavneh (near modern Rehovot) where he could move his yeshivah (school) and
study Torah in peace. Vespasian promised that if the prophecy came true, he
would grant ben Zakkai's request. Vespasian became Emperor and kept his word,
allowing the school to be established after the war was over. The yeshiva
survived and was a center of Jewish learning for centuries.

Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph (approx. 15-135 C.E.)

A poor, semi-literate shepherd, Rabbi Akiba became one of Judaism's greatest
scholars. He developed the exegetical method of the
Mishnah, linking each traditional practice to a
basis in the biblical text, and systematized the material that later became the
Mishnah.

Rabbi Akiba was active in the Bar Kokhba rebellion against Rome. He believed
that Bar Kokhba was the Mashiach (messiah),
though some other rabbis openly ridiculed him for
that belief (the Talmud records another rabbi as
saying, "Akiba, grass will grow in your cheeks and still the son of David will
not have come.") When the Bar Kokhba rebellion failed, Rabbi Akiba was taken by
the Roman authorities and tortured to death.

Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki) (1040-1105 C.E.)

A grape grower living in Northern France, Rashi wrote the definitive
commentaries on the Babylonian Talmud and the
Bible. Rashi pulled together materials from a wide variety of sources, wrote
them down in the order of the Talmud and the Bible for easy reference, and
wrote them in such clear, concise and plain language that it can be appreciated
by beginners and experts alike. Almost every edition of the Talmud printed
since the invention of the printing press has included the text of Rashi's
commentary side-by-side with the Talmudic text. Many traditional Jews will not
study the Bible without a Rashi commentary beside it.

Rambam (Maimonides; Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon) (1135-1204 C.E.)

A physician born in Moorish Cordoba, Rambam lived in a variety of places
throughout the Moorish lands of Spain, the Middle East and North Africa, often
fleeing persecution. He was a leader of the Jewish community in Cairo. He was
heavily influenced by Greek thought, particularly that of Aristotle.

Rambam was the author of the Mishneh Torah, one of the greatest codes of Jewish
law, compiling every conceivable topic of Jewish law in subject matter order
and providing a simple statement of the prevailing view in plain language. In
his own time, he was widely condemned because he claimed that the Mishneh Torah
was a substitute for studying the Talmud.

Rambam is also responsible for several important theological works. He
developed the 13 Principles of Faith, the most widely
accepted list of Jewish beliefs. He also wrote the Guide for the Perplexed, a
discussion of difficult theological concepts written from the perspective of an
Aristotelian philosopher.

Ramban (Nachmanides; Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman) (1194-1270 C.E.)

Ramban was the foremost halakhist of his age.
Like Rambam before him, Ramban was a Spaniard who was both a physician and a
great Torah scholar. However, unlike the rationalist Rambam, Ramban had a
strong mystical bent. His biblical commentaries are the first ones to
incorporate the mystical teachings of kabbalah.

He was well-known for his aggressive refutations of Christianity, most notably,
his debate with Pablo Christiani, a converted Jew, before King Jaime I of Spain
in 1263.

Ramban could be described as one of history's first
Zionists, because he declared that it is a
mitzvah to take possession of
Israel and to live in it (relying on Num. 33:53).
He said, "So long as Israel occupies [the Holy Land], the earth is regarded as
subject to Him." Ramban fulfilled this commandment, moving to the Holy Land
during the Crusades after he was expelled from Spain for his polemics. He found
devastation in the Holy Land, "but even in this destruction," he said, "it is a
blessed land." He died there in 1270 C.E.

Baal Shem Tov (the Besht, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer) (1700-1760 C.E.)

The founder of Chasidic Judaism. Although many
books of his teachings exist, the Besht himself wrote no books, perhaps because
his teachings emphasized the fact that even a simple, uneducated peasant could
approach G-d (a radical idea in its time, when
Judaism emphasized that the way to approach G-d was through study). He
emphasized prayer, the observance of commandments, and ecstatic, personal
mystical experiences.

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810 C.E.)

The great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov (see above), Rabbi
Nachman of Breslov (sometimes called Bratzlav, Breslau or Bratislava) was the
founder of the Breslover Chasidic sect. Breslov
is a town in the Ukraine where Rabbi Nachman spent the end of his life, but
some say the name Breslov comes from the Hebrew bris lev, meaning "covenant of
the heart." He emphasized living life with joy and happiness. One of his
best-known sayings is, "It is a great mitzvah to
be happy." Collections of his Chasidic tales (or tales attributed to him) are
widely available in print.